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"No ---------------Original Message--------------- From: PSweets Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2017 10:06 AM Subject: Can a company force exempt employees to take PTO due to budgetary constraints? > Exempt employees are being asked to use their PTO because our facility census is down and we need to cut expenditures."

You do not mention your state of employment. In California, PTO is considered vested wages and employees can use the time however they choose (sick or vacation or personal time off pursuant to the company’s time off request procedures). Alternatively, a company can institute furloughs as a cost cutting measure when needed. Furloughs result in unpaid time off work, regardless of the employment classification. Where an employee has accrued vacation or PTO, they can usually use the PTO time instead of a non-paid furlough. Keep in mind that using PTO means employees are still being paid so no savings are being realized by the company. However it does get the time off the books as a financial liability. So it sounds like your employer is looking for a way to downsize expenses and financial liabilities, but also looking out for ways to lessen the impact for its employees. In any event, good luck to you and your employer.